Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane hits back at Sir Alex Ferguson over
revelations in his new autobiography

Roy Keane accused Sir Alex Ferguson of not knowing the meaning of the word “loyalty” after the former Manchester United manager accused many of his former players in his memoirs.

Ferguson reveals the explosive story behind the breakdown in his relationship with Keane in his new autobiography, detailing how his former captain accused him of bringing his private life into the club over the Rock of Gibraltar racehorse.

The row occurred in front of the other players and coaching staff after the squad had gathered to collectively watch Keane’s infamous 2005 MUTV interview about his team-mates.

The good old days: Roy Keane spent the majority of his career working with Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford

In the words of Ferguson, Keane had “slaughtered” all his team-mates in the interview and then suggested that they gather to watch it. The meeting ended with Keane asking the players if they had anything to say and him clashing with Ruud van Nistelrooy, Edwin van der Sar and assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.

Keane, says Ferguson, then turned to him and accused him of bringing his private life into the club because of his dispute with shareholder John Magnier over the stud rights to the Rock of Gibraltar racehorse.

Writing in his autobiography, Ferguson graphically describes the anger in Keane’s face during that confrontation. “It was frightening to watch. And I’m from Glasgow,” he wrote.

Ferguson describes what Keane had done on MUTV as a “disgrace” and accuses him of “assuming managerial responsibilities”. An immediate decision was made that Keane must leave, with the Glazer family backing Ferguson’s judgment.

Keane had an opportunity on Tuesday night to respond to Ferguson’s version of events in his role as an ITV pundit. “I’m OK, I’m quite relaxed,” Keane said. “I do remember having conversations with the manager when I was at the club about loyalty. In my ­opinion, I don’t think he knows the meaning of the word. It doesn’t bother me too much what he has to say about me but to constantly criticise other players at the club who brought him a lot of success, I find very very strange but I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over it. I don’t think the manager needs to do that.”

Ferguson did claim that there was a slight cooling in tensions when Keane visited the training ground several months after the 2005 confrontation and apologised. It was agreed, says Ferguson, that neither man would address the situation publicly.

Ferguson feels that Keane reneged on that agreement when he gave an interview to The Sunday Times in 2011 in which be brought up the Magnier dispute and accused Ferguson of doing what is right for him.

Ferguson has also detailed the wider background to the breakdown in his relationship with Keane. He felt that Keane’s behaviour changed when he realised that he was not the player he once was. Ferguson says that he tried to alter Keane’s role and that the player could not accept how his game had changed.

Ferguson says that serious tensions had emerged in pre-season training ahead of the 2005-06 season in Portugal when Keane was critical of the accommodation that had been arranged in Vale de Lobo by Queiroz.

Ferguson felt there was nothing wrong with the facility and says that Keane “erupted” when they discussed the subject. He says that Keane then accused him of changing and that his captain became “reclusive”. He also accuses Keane of showing “no responsibility” to the other players in airing his complaint about the facility.

Ferguson also recalls an occasion when Keane and Van Nistelrooy had to be separated, although he says that not everyone had the courage to stand up to the Irishman. The managerial record of Keane is also raised, with Ferguson concluding that he needed money to build teams and did not have the patience to develop players.

But in his response, Keane said: “I’m not sure how many books he has written now but he has to draw the line eventually to say these players have all been top servants to Manchester United and a lot of these players helped the manager win lots of trophies. Can you imagine if we had never won any trophies what he would have said?

“We brought success to the club, we gave it everything we had when we were there. It’s just part of modern life. People like to do books and criticise their ex-players.”